Black Millennials by Edited by Jacquelin Darby

Author:Edited by Jacquelin Darby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: undefined
Published: 2012-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Slicker Than Your Average

Understanding the Young Black Professional

Vannesia Darby

All generations are not created equal, and neither are the racial subsets within each peer group. Yet, many organizations continue to use traditional management practices in a blanketed approach to yield peak performance from their employees, neglecting historical cultural, racial, and demographic differences. With five generations currently coexisting in the workplace, traditional operating procedures are symbolically busting at the seams following a perceived disturbance from one particular group: Generation Y (Millennials). Representative of those persons born between 1985 and 1999, Millennials bring a distinct contrast of employee satisfaction from those within their previous and subsequent cohorts (Alsop, 2008). These altered ideals, coupled with current access to formerly privileged educational and monetary opportunities, have allowed Millennials at large to be perceived as entitled, disloyal, and selfish by their predecessors. The lack of cultural competences also gives way for employers to assume that their superiors, peers, and subordinates of African descent are enraged, one-sided, and unwilling to compromise.

From technology to terrorist attacks, there have been a plethora of events to impact the world on a global scale. Although society within each generation experienced its share of both advancements and issues, the impact of each subsequently caused extremely different worldviews, particularly for the Black Millennials in today’s workplace.

Unlike their successors Generation Z, who never experienced life without the internet, Millennials are the generation who grew up with and into the technology boom (Turner, 2015). Additionally, major culture ­­shifts impacting the economy (2008 recession, rising college tuition costs, etc.), the use of technology (the internet, social cell phones, social networking, etc.), and issues surrounding safety and security (school shootings, terrorist attacks, etc.) within the past three decades are integral pieces of their human experience. The use of social media in particular allows for the amplification of the disparity and inequity among cultures, primarily those of African descent.

With regard to Black Millennials within the United States and of African descent, there is also a constant underbelly of racism due to the impact of the eras of disenfranchisement and slavery. While conducting twenty-three interviews with Black professionals, Associate Professor Adia Harvey Wingfield noted that countless studies indicate racism continues to shape many and/or most components of life for Black Americans (Wingfield, 2007).

This disparity is also seen within the field of education. Highlighting the sentiments of Black Millennials in the workforce, Princeton Theological Seminary presented its findings from their Slavery Audit in 2018. The result proved that Princeton’s forefathers overwhelmingly contributed to donations to the school, funds for the development of the university, and the economy with dollars garnered off the literal backs of African slaves (Barnes et al., 2018). With this certainty, the Seminary agreed upon an immediate implementation of scholarships to the decedents of slaves, a $27 million-dollar endowment, and over twenty additional forms of reparations (Pride, 2019).

For the Black Millennial professional, events like these must not be ignored as they are critical to how individuals show up in the workplace and world. Additionally, employers should

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